Review: Where the River Runs Gold

This is an incredibly powerful and thought-provoking story
which totally engrossed me right from the prologue which occurs 10 years before
the main story when society is drastically changed by the catastrophic environmental
damage caused by Hurricane Chronos.

The story is set in a dystopian aftermath where society has
been firmly divided into three social groups:
the Paragons, the Freedoms and the Outlanders. The inequality between these groups in terms
of social status, power and wealth is evident.
The Paragons rule ruthlessly through the ARK government, and control, not
only the food supplies and wealth within Kairos City, but also the right to
knowledge and perceptions of the landscape outside the City. The Outlanders refuse to conform to the
expectations of the Paragons and live outside society, displaced and suffering
social deprivation and hardship. Paradoxically,
the group which is least free are the Freedoms, and it is to this group that the
main protagonists, Shifa and Themba, belong.

Fighting his way through the eye of the storm, driven by
his love for his infant son, Themba, Nabil survives the hurricane that
devastates the very foundations of society.
On his return, he discovers an abandoned baby with her cat, Daisy. There is no mother and her only possessions
are a daisy chain strung around her body, a basket of edible leaves and a
golden locket. He names her Shifa, and
brings her up as his daughter.

Skip forward ten years … to Shifa and Themba’s tenth
birthdays. It is on this day that the
terrible, and heart-breaking, pledge their father has made to the ARK is
realised. In exchange for the benefits
of the food, money and education the family have received, Nabil’s children
must give up four years of their lives to become Freedom Field Recruits. These recruits are needed to help with food
production, including the pollination of plants as bees have become extinct due
to climatic chaos. This is sold to the
family as a vital part of the re-generation of society so that all can
eventually enjoy the benefits currently only in existence for the Paragons.

Shifa and her family have a deep ingrained love of the
natural environment and, defying ARK laws, have their own secret garden and ‘skep-heart’
code which becomes a powerful symbol of family love, loyalty and bonding
threaded throughout the story.

We’ve
got to keep our family skepheart beating.

What awaits the children on the Freedom Family Farm they
are sent to is unbearably unjust as they struggle to cope in an oppressive
regime where they are effectively dehumanised with any level of freedom they
thought they had being cruelly ripped from them. The treatment of the children and the hopelessness
of their situation is heart-wrenching; however, the resilience and strength of
the majority of the children is uplifting.
Torn from their families, they become a new family, taking care of each
other, despite their hardships.

Shifa and Themba are just wonderful children who have made
a lasting impression on me. They have an
incredibly close bond and clearly adore each other: it is their love for each other that helps
them survive. Shifa is kind-hearted,
resilient and loving, but she also questions the society into which she has
been born. Themba is artistic, impulsive
and trusting, but also vulnerable. It is
this vulnerability which gives his fiercely protective sister the strength,
courage and determination to make an impossibly difficult decision. A decision which leads them on a terrifying
journey, but also one of new discoveries, new friendships and perhaps towards hope
of a new way of life.

The story’s central message is a very current one around
the potential devastation that could be caused by inertia in tackling climate
change. It really crystallises the
effects this could have not only on the environment but also on the people who
have to live in the aftermath, with the innocent bearing the brunt of mistakes
made by their elders. Children are both
the victims, and the redeemers, of this dystopian society.

Not
taking care of the planet felt like destroying the thing that most cared for
you.

The concept of freedom is also explored. Are you truly free if you don’t belong
anywhere and don’t care about anyone?
Can freedom be taken away if you have the love of your family in your
heart? Can apparent freedom be nothing
more than a façade? This theme is
explored beautifully through the difficult and heartfelt relationship between Shifa and Luca, an
orphan taken in by the ARK. Is he the
enemy he appears, or just as much a victim as the other children?

This is an engrossing story of family, friendship and hope,
set in deeply rooted themes of the effects of climatic change, societal
injustice and an exploration of freedom, which captured me entirely. This story has incredible potential for
classroom discussion. As a teacher, I
can definitely see me using it with children of 9+.

Thank you to NetGalley and Orion Children’s Books/ Hachette Children’s Group for an e-ARC of this book in exchange for my honest opinion.

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Published by BookCraic

I am a primary school teacher who is a voracious reader. I love reading children's books, talking to them about books, engaging them in reading for pleasure and recommending books to them.
View all posts by BookCraic

Thank you! I think it made Themba a really sympathetic character, but also someone who exercised a certain level of control through his neurodiversity which enabled him to refuse to conform. However, this provided a dilemma for Shifa and makes it more believable that she would risk everything to escape.

I found it very interesting to see how someone neurodiverse albeit reasonably high functioning would be received and cope in a dystopian world. As a sister to someone autistic it’s always a point of interest for me in these situations.

I understand. I have the most wonderful girl in my class who is autistic – she is a daily inspiration to me – I admire her so much! I suppose no allowances are made for Themba as children are seen as a commodity and I doubt he would have survived without Shifa’s, and Luca’s, intervention. I think he also plays a role in ensuring their escape is successful and this is due to his unique perspective on the world.